Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The ongoing political turmoil has decreased the sales at Amar Ekushey Book Fair that concludes in a week's time.
Publishers said continuous political unrest that created panic among the intending visitors to the book festival on the Bangla Academy premises pushed down the sales.
They demanded extension of the book fair considering substantial losses of the participating publishing houses in the backdrop of a month-long mayhem.
SM Khairul Hasan Shaju, owner of Dibyaprakash, said sales volume of his house has dropped by about 50 percent compared to last year because of current political unrest.
Mr Saju demanded extension of time of the book fair considering losses of the publishers. "Authorities should allow the publishers at least to open their stalls from morning in the coming days to recoup their losses."
According to the Bangla Academy statistics, a total of 2611 new books arrived in the last 23 days. Book of poems topped the list with 648 books followed by novels with 459, story books 355 and essay books 182.
BBN/SSR/AD-24Feb13-11:05 am (BST)